Sugar-Free Summer Cocktails

It’s a looong hot summer, so you’d better to cool yourself with some of the coolest sugar-free low-carb drinks. If you don’t get chilled (out) with these, it would be worth thinking of moving to the North Pole!

I’ve collected a bunch of various drink recipes, some of them are my low-carb versions of classic drinks, some are my wild, new creations. Enjoy!

Sugar-Free Mint Julep

Let’s start with an old, refreshing favorite — this time sweetened with stevia instead of syrup. By the way, liquid stevia is a very handy sweetener, it comes ready in a bottle and you don’t have to cook it like sugar syrup.

Place the mint leaves from 1 mint sprig and the stevia in an old-fashioned glass.

Fill the glass with crushed ice and pour bourbon over the ice.

Garnish with the remaining mint sprig.

Nutrition information

Protein

Fat

Net carbs

kcal

One serving:

0.1 g

0.0 g

1.0 g

140 kcal

Low-Carb Long Drink “Lonkero”

Next a Finnish favorite, long drink “lonkero“, which was first introduced into the 1952 Olympics. Usually lonkero is sweetened with sugar, or I guess nowadays it contains whatever super unhealthy syrup and other artificial flavorings. Because I’m not in favor of industrial unhealthy stuff, I created a sugar-free syrup-free version of this extra refreshing drink which we Finns love to drink especially after sauna, or actually at any time in the summer.

Currently there do exist numerous different flavors of lonkeros, but I stuck with the basic version, although in the photo above I used red grapefruit juice instead of white grapefruit juice.

Sugar-Free Vodka Collins

Here is again an old classic, which I converted into low-carb. The low-carb versions I’ve seen before contain Splenda or other artificial sweeteners. Because to my knowledge stevia is much safer, I chose that to sweeten my Vodka Collins. I also modified this drink to contain a bit less alcohol — you won’t feel too dizzy after enjoying this chilling and refreshing golden oldie.

Add the vodka, lemon juice and the stevia, close the shaker or the jar tightly and shake vigorously.

Strain into an old-fashioned glass.

Add the sparkling water and stir.

Nutrition information

Protein

Fat

Net carbs

kcal

One serving:

0.1 g

0.0 g

0.5 g

75 kcal

Raspberry Surprise

This fruity drink is developed completely by me. It all started from my craving for a fruity, fresh and long drink. Fresh raspberries are both fruity and very low in carbs. Flavor bursting raspberry juice, sweetened with vanilla stevia, a tiny bite from lime and lots of refreshing, ice-cold sparkling water create a perfect drink for any hot summer day.

Combine the rum, raspberries, vanilla stevia and the lime juice in a small bowl. Mix well.

Press the mixture carefully through a sieve or a (tea) strainer so that you get as much liquid as possible.

Pour the mixture into a highball glass.

Add the sparkling water and stir gently.

Nutrition information

Protein

Fat

Net carbs

kcal

One serving, if 1 oz (30 ml) rum used:

0.6 g

0.5 g

2.5 g

94 kcal

One serving, if 2 oz (60 ml) rum used:

0.6 g

0.5 g

2.5 g

163 kcal

Merry Cherry Berry

Here is again a drink developed by me. iHerb sells lovely cherry flavor, and I thought I simply have to use it for a luscious, short drink. Here is the tasty result, sip it slowly and feel the cheery taste of summer!

Citrus Explosion Martini

Let your taste buds explode with this triple citrus martini! This drink is again developed by me — though I don’t wonder if somebody somewhere has come to similar ideas, this drink is simply a winner. I dare you to try!

Cherry Apple Drink

My husband — who is German — loves Apfelschorle, a traditional German drink, which consists of half apple juice and half sparkling water. Because apple juice has quite some carbs, I developed this drink of lesser carbs for my family. Well, my husband still sticks to the traditional Apfelschorle, but I and my son could gulp down gallons of this tasty cherry and apple flavored drink.

Combine the stevia crystals and the apple juice in a pitcher. Stir until the crystals are dissolved.

Pour in the sparkling water and stir gently.

Nutrition information

Protein

Fat

Net carbs

kcal

In total:

0.3 g

0.3 g

33.0 g

138 kcal

Per serving if 4 servings in total:

0.1 g

0.1 g

8.3 g

35 kcal

Per serving if 6 servings in total:

0.1 g

0.1 g

5.5 g

23 kcal

Liquid Dessert (Creamy Cherry Cinnamon Drink)

For those who try to avoid alcohol I developed this sweet and creamy drink — dessert in fluid form. Actually, the cherry flavor has a trace of alcohol, like most of the flavors and extracts, so if you are completely avoiding alcohol, you might want to search for a cherry flavor which contains absolutely no alcohol whatsoever. Cinnamon gives a surprising and exciting note, which goes perfectly with cherry and heavy cream. This drink you simply cannot miss!

For these recipes I got some inspiration from books Low-Carb Cocktails by Dr. Douglas J. Markham and 1001 Cocktails, the Finnish edition. Even these drinks are tasty, refreshing and easy to gulp down, they should be enjoyed in moderation.

Like you might have noticed, this blog post is quite much different from all my other blog posts. I just wanted to try out something else. However, this way turned out to be enormously laborious, so I keep these multiple recipes containing blog posts to the minimum in the future, even I have to say that I enjoyed every second of developing these recipes and taking the photos in my summer cottage in the middle of nowhere.

P.S. A Canadian magazine Marine Matters is celebrating their first anniversary and they have my cupcake photo as their magazine cover. You might want to check the July issue, it’s free, great quality and also interesting for non-mariners.

I had a Carribean Sea in the Dominican republic. It was delicious and not sweet except for the sugar on the rim of the glass. I think it was a type of margarita. I think k it had tequila and lime plus blue curacau? Have you a recipe for that?

Hi Debra! Thank you! I have written a whole book about low-carb drinks (http://www.books.lowcarbsosimple.com/drinks/), but I just realized that I don’t have a margarita recipe! I certainly have to develop one, thanks for the hint! 🙂

Hmm, I wonder what kinds of drinks you were searching for? Maybe you can help me so that I can develop better recipes which also you would love?

What comes to stevia, I don’t consider it as “fake sugar”. In that sense, anything which replaces sugar is “fake sugar”. If you want completely sugar-free drinks, why not just leave out sugar or stevia? Hope you also remember that the “sugar-free” drinks which contain fruits or fruit juices are not really sugar-free, as the body handles the fruit sugar (fructose) just like table sugar. Actually, fructose is more harmful, so that’s why I don’t publish any “fake sugar-free” drinks which contain fruit juices (more than a very small amount). They are just so unhealthy, and I want to keep my readers healthy and happy.

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